Faculty artists series : Orford String Quartet

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO FACULTY OF MUSIC

Faculty
Artists
Series

HAHHHOK
Saturday, February 23, 1991
8:00 pm
Walter Hall

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P FIEV-M FESTIVAL 1

a series of five concerts
featuring the complete chamber works of Sergei Prokofiev
in honour of the 100th anniversary of
the composer's birth (April 23, 1891)
as well as
selected chamber works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
to commemorate the 200th anniversary of
the composer's death (December 5, 1791)

A Co-presentation of

the University of Toronto Faculty of Music
the Hart House Music Committee and
the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

This series will be presented on CBC Stereo's ARTS NATIONAL (94.1 FM at 8:00 PM)
between April 22nd and 26th.

The host of ARTS NATIONAL is Terry Campbell.
Neil Crory, producer
David Burnham, recording engineer

PROGRAM

Orford String Quartet

Andrew Dawes, violin, Kenneth Perkins, violin
Sophie Renshaw, viola, Desmond Hoebig, cello

Joaquin Valdepefias, clarinet
William Aide, piano

Overture on Hebrew Themes . Sergei Prokofiev
for clarinet, piano and string quartet, Op. 34 (1891-1953)
Joaquin Valdepefias, William Aide, Orford String Quartet

Trio for clarinet, viola and piano in E flat major, K. 489 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Andante (1756-1791)
Menuetto

Rondo: Allegretto
Joaquin Valdepefias, Sophie Renshaw, William Aide

«Intermission
Adagio (from Cinderella) for Prokofiev
cello and piano, Op. 97 bis
Ballade for cello and piano, Op. 15 Prokofiev

Desmond Hoebig, William Aide

String Quartet in D major, K. 575 Mozart
Allegretto
Andante
Menuetto and Trio
Allegretto
Orford String Quartet

KK KK

PROGRAM NOTES

Overture on Hebrew Themes, Op. 34 Prokofiev

The Overture on Hebrew Themes, Op. 34, composed 1919, is an anomaly in the works of
Prokofiev for two reasons: it is the only work scored for a sextet of piano, clarinet, and
string quartet by Prokofiev. In addition, it represents one of the rare occasions when
Prokofiev composed a work using borrowed material. In this case, a Jewish musical
ensemble of former fellow students from Russia gave him a notebook of Jewish musical
themes and asked him to compose a piece for their sextet. Despite the work's apparent
popularity and the fact that it was eventually transcribed for orchestra by the composer
himself, Prokofiev was extremely dissatisfied with the piece. It took him only a day and
a half to compose, and he felt that it was so insignificant that he did not even want to
assign it an opus number. The Overture, however, has strong positive attributes. The
piece consists of two themes: the first is a scherzo-like dance tune, the second a dark,
cantabile melody. Each theme is propelled forward by the energetic rhythms in the
accompaniment. The combination of the dark sonorities of the viola and clarinet give the
work an Old World feeling, whereas the harmonies remind us that this is, indeed,
Prokofiev.

Trio in E flat Major, K. 498 W.A. Mozart

The Trio in E flat Major, K. 498 ("Kegelstatt Trio") was composed in 1786 for Francisca
von Jacquin, one of Mozart's best piano students. The Trio was supposedly written
during a session of a ball game called "skittles." This was a European equivalent to
bowling, and "Kegelstatt" alludes to the location of the activity, the closest modern
equivalent being a bowling-alley. The Andante opens with a motif in the viola and piano
which permeates the entire movement. All instruments participate equally in both this
movement and the Menuetto; in contrast, a serene clarinet motif is pitted against the
playful, sparring gestures of the viola in the Trio movement. In the third movement, the
clarinet states the main theme (a reworking of the Andante motif) which is followed by a
stream of scalar passages in the piano and athletic triplets in the viola. The piece drives
toward a fortissimo and ends with triple stops in the viola.

Adagio for Cello and Piano, Op. 97 bis | Prokofiev

Although Prokofiev finished his ballet Cinderella in 1944, he published some
arrangements of the music before its completion, one of which was the Adagio for Cello
and Piano, Op. 97 bis (1943). In the orchestral score, Cinderella is represented by
leitfmotifs; the music of the Adagio is based on the second Cinderella theme from the
Introduction to the ballet, which represents her dreams of happiness. The waltz-like
triple metre, lyrical cello line, and the intensity of the cello's double stops reflect the
romantic tension of the lovers in their pas-de-deux at the ball.

Ballade for Cello, Op. 15 Prokofiev

Prokofiev wrote his Ballade for Cello, Op. 15 in 1912 at the age of 21 while at St.
Petersburg, where he studied under Lyadov and Rimsky-Korsakov. The work expresses
four distinct thematic ideas with a restatement of the first theme at the close. The first
theme is scalar and outlines the tonal area of C Minor; the second theme provides a
textual contrast as it is marked piu animato and is played pizzicato; the third theme
consists of a melody of sustained notes and an echo of the scalar first theme; the fourth
theme hinges on a wistful motif of a minor second and builds to the climax of the piece.
The themes do not consist of completely new material. Instead, they are derived from
the first theme and use the aurally striking intervals of major and minor sevenths as
central motivic cells. The angular melodies and deliberate use of strong dissonance in
the harmonization in the piano are typical of Prokofiev's style.

Quartet in D Major, K. 575 Mozart

The Quartet in D Major, K. 575 is the first of the three “Prussian” quartets written. by
Mozart between 1789 and 1790 for the cellist monarch of Prussia, King Frederick
William II. The cello plays a prominent role in the quartet, especially in the lyrical
Andante and the soloistic Trio movements. Alfred Einstein points out that it is in these
quartets that Mozart begins to use the treble clef in the higher positions of the cello, a
reflection, perhaps, of the technical challenge he was attempting to pose for the king.
Mozart found the string quartet to be a difficult medium. In a letter of 1789, he referred
to his work on the Prussian quartets as "diese muhesame Arbeit" ("that exhausting
labour") but one would never know that from listening to them. This quartet in D does
not present such a challenge to the listener as it does to the cellist. Mozart achieves
unity in this quartet by reworking thematic material from his first movement. For
instance, he recalls the initial violin theme of the Allegretto in the opening of the
energetic finale. © Notes by Liz Radzick, History and Literature, Year 4

TONIGHT'S ARTISTS

1990-91 marks the ORFORD STRING QUARTET'S final season together. During the season, the
Quartet will have performed acrosss Canada and the United States, and given the first performances of
newly commissioned works by Canadian composers Allan Bell, Francois Morel, and Oskar
Morawetz. In July, the Quartet will give its final international performances in a week-long series of
chamber music concerts as part of Great Canada ‘91, a festival of Canadian culture in Tokyo to
celebrate the opening of Canada's new embassy in Japan. Founded in 1965 at Quebec's Orford Arts
Centre, the Quartet has recorded more than 40 discs, several of which have won prestigious awards.
The Quartet was named Ensemble of the Year by the Canadian Music Council in 1986. In 1987, with
the assistance of TransCanada Pipelines and the Canada Council, the Quartet initiated a National
Residency Training Program for aspiring professional musicians across Canada. Each member of the
Quartet--violinists Andy Dawes and Kenneth Perkins, violist Sophie Renshaw, and cellist Desmond
Hoebig--is an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Toronto, where the ensemble is also
the University's Quartet-in-Residence.

Pianist WILLIAM AIDE received his degrees from the University of Toronto and the Juilliard School
of Music. He is noted not only as a recitalist, but also as a chamber musician and accompanist. Mr.
Aide has premiered concerti by Canadian composers Irving Glick, Walter Buczynski, Samuel Dolin,
and Peter Koprowski, and has performed under the direction of such conductors as Walter Susskind,
Charles Dutoit, Mario Bernardi, Raffi Armenian, and Arthur Fiedler. His recording of the 24 Chopin
Etudes was released in 1987 to favourable reviews. During the past season, William Aide has written
several book reviews for the Saturday Magazine of The Toronto Star; the most recent of these was a
critique of Richard Osborne's Conversations With Von Karajan. In October, he organized and
performed in a symposium in honour of Alberto Guerrero; that concert will be broadcast on CBC's
Arts National on Wednesday, March 6 at 8 pm. Earlier this month, William Aide performed
Beethoven's Emperor Concerto with the North York Symphony, and he was in residence at Mount
Royal College in Calgary, where he gave masterclasses and a recital.

A native of Mexico, JOAQUIN VALDEPENAS studied at Yale University and, upon his graduation
in 1980, joined the Toronto Symphony as principal clarinet. He teaches at the University of Toronto
and, during the summer, at Aspen. He has performed at festivals in Marlboro, Banff, Edinburgh and
Evian, as well as at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico and the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln
Center. His debut recording, Presenting Joaquin Valdepenias, with pianist Patricia Parr, was
nominated for a Juno Award in 1987. With his colleagues David Hetherington and Patricia Parr, he is
a founding member of the chamber music ensemble Amici. The spring of 1991 will see Amici in
China, giving concerts and masterclasses in the province of J iangsu.

Prokofiev-Mozart Festival 1991

Concert #4
Sunday, March 3 at 3:00 pm
Hart House, University of Toronto

Jacques Israelievitch, violin; Mark Skazinetzky, violin
Christopher Redfield, viola; David Hetherington, cello

Concert #5
Sunday, April 7 at 8:00 pm
Hart House, University of Toronto

Jacques Israelievitch, violin; Robert Kortgaard, piano

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
FACULTY OF MUSIC
OPERA DIVISION
presents

A French Trilogy

DEBUSSY : L Enfant Ft odigue—
MASSENET: £ Aorta i tae N anon
OFFENBACH: MM Choufleur {

FRIDAY, MARCH 1
SATURDAY, MARCH 2.
FRIDAY, MARCH 8
SATURDAY, MARCH 2

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